Divide and Conquer
by A Mistake
Summary: Divide et impera might be a classic move, but L had to admit that it was nowhere near outdated. Crackfic, with a genderbent Light due to an Act of God. The result of a plot bunny that wouldn't go away after I finished reading Silver Pard's "Adaptation"
1. Divide and Conquer

Author's Note: This was a plot bunny that wouldn't leave my head after I finished reading Silver Pard's crackfic "Adaptation", so if you haven't read that one, go ahead and read it first before reading this one. It's (vaguely) a continuation of sorts. That fic stayed in my head for the whole day until I gave up on it and wrote this down. And also, it's a crackfic. Like _pure _and unholy _crack_, so if you were looking for something sane, consider this a disclaimer.

I'll mark this as complete since I don't know when and if I'd get any crazy idea of things occurring in this alternate Death Note universe, but if anyone has plot bunnies and other related weird ideas digging in their backyard after they read this, I'm always open to reviews.

Watch the crack. You have been warned...

Update: No, nothing'd changed, just edited things a bit to be more readable.

* * *

**Divide and Conquer**

As much as he respected Yagami Soichirou, Aizawa was certain that faithfully following the dedicated inspector to the end of the world does not include being asked to walk up to L and say that the senior Yagami had very much insisted the _young man_ take responsibility over his eldest _son_, err, _daughter_. That was why the moment the security camera showed L and Light walking in into the building from whoever knows where, he stood bolt upright and shouted that he was out to buy more coffee for the pantry. And sugar, he added as an afterthought while running out. Never mind that there was certainly someone in L's whole building that was tasked to do it, but he was not going to be in the room where a drama was certain to unfold. A disappointed Soichirou was now forced to look for someone else.

Mogi was in the midst of doing something else decidedly important for the investigation, and because of it his old superior just nodded to him to continue whatever he was doing when their eyes met, and he was spared from Soichiro's attention as the middle-aged man turned elsewhere.

The door to the room opened and Light and L walked in.

The man whom Soichiro's glance finally fell on was trying hard to avoid looking at Light's breasts, since the younger Yagami did not seem to have wrapped his head around the idea that being female meant it was probably a good idea to start getting a _bra_.

"Matsuda"

"Yes, Sir?" Matsuda turned to the elder Yagami, trying not to feel embarrassed from the reproaching glance. The elder Yagami cleared his throat.

"You need some cough drops, Sir?"

Mogi wisely decided in the current situation that it would be far more productive for him if he carried the files he was reading to the next room and work there. Light was calmly drinking his tea while L was making a pyramid of chocolates when he passed them on the way to the door, sitting side by side on the same couch without saying a word.

Mogi tried to forget that he had just seen L's hand casually draped on Light-chan's thigh; fingers visibly moving while his other hand helped another square of chocolate disappear inside his mouth without a trace. Mogi focused on the door ahead of him straight away. He came to the conclusion that maybe things would stay more normal if he didn't glance around at all when there were the two of them nearby.

Matsuda had only realized belatedly that his fellow investigators were nowhere to be seen. It was also most unfortunate that his head only started thinking when Soichiro was approaching him, when the right reaction then was to start _running_. He felt a fatherly hand had gotten hold of his shoulder and he spun around with a distinctly worrying feeling at the pit of his stomach.

"Would you please tell them that we have to work?"  
"Eh?"  
"And please tell L to—"

* * *

'-

Light and L turned around from the shriek that they thought was Misa's from the pitch, but turned out to be Matsuda's.

"EEEEEEEEEHHH? But, but, but, but..."  
He gave a most awkward grin, sweat trickling his brow, when he realized that the two people on the couch had now turned their attention to him. A tired Soichiro was rubbing his temples with his hand. His voice had taken a different tone now.

"_Matsuda..._"

"Yes, Sir!" Yagami Soichiro was still staring at him, waiting. Matsuda felt like walking to his bed, pull his blankets higher over his head, curl into a ball and whimper, but right now he turned around anyway and moved his heavy feet one by one towards the couch. For the moment he felt they were encased in concrete.

"Uh, L?"

The black-haired genius looked up, but didn't even bother to say anything to him. It was a good thing that Matsuda was too nervous to register his surroundings. If he wasn't, he might've seen Light taking a hold of L's hand on her person and replaced it somewhere less inquisitive on the couch without taking her eyes off the tea.

"Uh, Yagami-san asked me to tell you to focus on the investigation"  
L told him that there was no need of that because he never did stop the investigation. Matsuda felt relieved that it went smoothly and was eager to get back to his usual seat, or even to wait Misa-misa on a hectic day again. The only hindrance to that fine idea was Yagami-san, still standing a few paces away from him with the same sort of _look_. Matsuda found that L had begun to ignore him again.

"Uh, L..."  
"There's...there's also something else that Yagami-san wanted to say..."  
Matsuda was staring at the ground as he said it, his hands gripping one another and his face turning a fetching shade of scarlet.

"He, uh, wanted you to, uh, take responsibility for Light-chan"

There was the mildest sort of cough coming from the general direction of Light, who was staring at him with an eyebrow raised, the teacup replaced on the table but Matsuda wasn't seeing that. Not that he could look at a very pretty Light in the eye right now. He didn't see that L's face had hardly changed, but if he thought hard enough right then, it was still what could be expected of him too.

L waited until he scarfed down a slice of strawberry cheesecake before replying. He felt no that there was no extraordinary need to rush with his food and get an indigestion.

"Why?"

* * *

'-

Matsuda was spared the necessity of reacting any further—which he would be unable to since he was too shocked to speak. He didn't know how Yagami-san could cross the distance separating them so fast, but he could not thank his stars enough that he wasn't on the receiving end of the man's fist. It looked like it hurt. It _sounded_ like it hurt really _bad_. His feet regained consciousness again from the sound of knuckles hitting cheek bone and he scrambled away as fast as he could.

"Why, you irresponsible lout!"

Light was watching all this unfold without changing her graceful sitting poise by even an inch. It was possibly a rather amused expression that flickered behind her eyes, Mogi thought as he and Aizawa quietly slipped back in, too curious about the ruckus to stay away. Mogi was carrying his files and Aizawa a grocery bag. Neither of them paid attention to what they had in their hands though.

L considered the possibility that Light had planned it all to the point of making him enemies with the older Yagami, and added four percent to Light's Kira score while dodging Yagami-san's next blow. _Divide et impera_ might be a classic move, but he had to admit that it was nowhere near outdated. After he rolled away he thought over it again, noticing Mogi and Aizawa's entrance in to the room at the same time. He weighed it in and thought the added score of Light as Kira should probably be seven percent instead of four—as now nobody in the room was working at all. Previously, it was only the two of them who weren't working most of the time, though as he mused about it he realized that the team hadn't actually come up with anything really interesting on their own in the last week.

"Let's think over this clearly, shall we, Yagami-san?" he said, voice as flat as usual.  
"What is there to think about? You have clearly demonstrated your intention of just walking away without a second thought about what you've done! I don't think you even care"

Light-ku—Light-chan added her opinion to the fray by saying that there was no need for her father to get violent, and that they can sit down and talk about this calmly. L felt slightly more optimistic of ending this misunderstanding, thinking that at least Yagami-san would listen to his so—daughter. But it was clear that the train of thought occurred due to a lack of practical knowledge about fathers. If anything, it only made Yagami-san look more determined to give him a painful hit, and L had to keep his mind back on dodging because that last punch was missing him too a little too close.

The elder Yagami said something about how he was a bastard undeserving of Light-chan's attention and that she didn't need to defend him. L quickly grasped the idea that the only reason Light interefered just then was to make it _worse_.

It was confirmed by the undoubtedly beatific smile Light had right now, even if the general emotion Light was trying to project was one of a concerned worry. And was that just his impression that she had now mastered the feat of looking too powerless to step in into the fight, giving her a perfectly viable reason not to assist him at all?

The momentary distraction afforded Soichirou's kick to hit him in the gut.

* * *

'-

Matsuda told Aizawa and Mogi what he had missed. Aizawa choked on his coffee and decided it was better for him if he just took a break for the whole day, his nerves deciding that he's had enough. Mogi thought that even if he was going to be the last person working in the room, he didn't mind, and went back to his work soon enough. Matsuda was torn between following his fight or flight instinct (leaning heavily towards flight), and that equally strong morbid curiosity egging the lizard part of his brain to stay.

He had a feeling that he was going to regret this later.

* * *

'-

It was worry that was impairing Yagami-san's judgement. It wasn't a hard conclusion to take for L, and the rest of the investigative team tried to stay out of the fighting pair's way. He wasn't worried about Yagami-san—he would tire far sooner than L would. On the other hand, he did think that it would be better if this problem was solved for sooner rather than later since it was undermining the cohesiveness of the team and the teamwork too, considering how Yagami-san was starting to say things that boils down to 'stay the hell away from my daughter'. Of course, there was also the other more worrying reason that there were certain activities he would no longer be able to indulge in if his teamwork with Light-chan suffers, and he far preferred that than to continue obsessive-compulsively thinking about everything Kira might be planning into the wee hours of the night—thinking about Kira's next movement does not supply him with the knowledge and certainty of where exactly Light-chan was and what she was doing in that moment in time. One probable cause of Yagami-san's concern crossed his mind, and he thought that if it was _only_ that he could assuage it easily.

"If you're worried about Light-chan getting pregnant, it's an insubstantial risk. We're not careless enough to not use some means of contraception"

He could hear the whole room let out a mutual groan. Now, he had a distinct feeling at the back of his head that he just made a rather big _faux pas_. The more disastrous point about it is, he had no idea what it was or why and thus could not decide if the next sentence he had in mind was going to alleviate it or make it worse.

It was at times like these that he thought having Watari away for prolonged periods was a genuinely bad idea.

* * *

'-

Matsuda had his face in his hands, flustered, and hadn't even taken it out as he tried to remove whatever images his imagination managed to come up with just from listening to L's last sentence.

Mogi san left his seat and his work behind after considering that he was probably the last responsible person in the room, and that he might be the only person sane enough to be able to stop Yagami-san from trying to kill L.

Light was smiling into the cup of tea in her hands. She never thought that getting the spotlight away from Kira was going to be this easy.


	2. Arrested Development

Author's Note: To cwilder, it's a shame that I got your message when I've written the next two chapters down, so some ideas are already well on their way and written. I hope the editing's not much of a problem, since I didn't have enough time to reformat it much as I'm currently out of town on some extended project (on a different note, I realized that I probably needed to edit the first chapter, but maybe nowhere soon). So, onwards with the crazy...

'-

* * *

**Arrested Development**

"I don't understand why Yagami-san's so annoyed at me" L said, building a replica of the Great Wall of China using sugar blocks. The slight furrow of his brows was the only indication that he was deep in thought.

"Really?" Light replied absentmindedly, scanning the third newspaper of the day. Her mind wasn't in the conversation. She was trying to memorize any new criminals surfacing in the news—the reduction in announcement of crime was making accumulating names a hassle nowadays. Currently, Light was trying to collect enough criminals to last through one month of 'divine execution' so she could stop thinking about the Death Note for once and concentrate more on how to free herself from suspicion, once and for all.

_And take over the world! Muahahahahahahahaha_, her inner Kami said. She glanced at L, mildly surprised that the first spot her eyes went to was his ass instead of his face.

_Maybe not right now. Some...experiments aren't even done yet_.

There was a scoff somewhere from inside her head. _Excuses, excuses..._

_You don't have any intention of being a celibate God/Godess, do you?_

The voice of dissent took its time to appraise the detective next to them and gave a grudging acknowledgement. Not giving up yet, it was trying to bring up the argument of how scruffiness isn't exactly counterbalanced by well-stretched muscles when L's voice snapped Light out of her reverie.

"I never failed to stock your Pills whenever you run out of them" L said.

Matsuda screamed, "_I don't need to hear this conversation!_"

No one was listening to Matsuda. "Back when we're still using condom, I always manage to stop when we ran out. Always. I thought self-control had to count for something"

Aizawa popped his anxiety medication a little over the recommended dose and placed his hands over his ears.

"You avoiding me like the plague isn't what I'd call a prime example of self-control. That's _evasion_, Ryuuzaki"

Mogi moved out of the way while Yagami-san tackled L.

"By the way, Ryuuzaki," Light-chan dropped the newspaper and took a new one, ignoring the hubbub happening just beyond her couch. "The first answer to your query is, you could try _NOT _talking about contraceptive methods when my father's in the room"

* * *

'-

"So I can't go to the mall?" Light asked.

Not that she even _wanted _to go to the mall. It's just that Light had been looking up various candidates for a replacement Kira, one with a reasonably similar sense of justice, and Ryuk mentioned it as one of the places where she could accidentally pass any one of them and observe them directly.

"Why isn't anyone giving me a straight answer?"

Pleading for it was unexpectedly fun too.

Light was having way too much entertainment in looking disappointed and putting forward the impression of a someone trying very hard to hold her composure even when she was in the verge of crying/getting angry and close to walking away. No one had the heart to say 'no' right to her face and as such, everyone was unconsciously moving away from her seat. The team had been cutting her a lot of slack lately, and as an extension of that, most of the people were playing down the hypothesis that Light might be Kira more than necessary. Even when L voiced his disagreement against the majority opinion, he wasn't immune to the damsel-in-distress look Light was pulling, complete with the subtly-quivering lower lip.

"Not when there's no one to watch you" L said this without meeting her eyes. "Matsuda has to follow Misa-chan after this break and Mogi's the one who understood the surveillance system best here to work on it"

He didn't mention Aizawa, who was absent and cited nervous breakdown as the reason, or Yagami-san, whom Light knew L wouldn't trust to watch over his own daughter.

"Why don't you go out with me?" Light asked.

It was slight, but there was an effusion of colour on pale skin that could vaguely be misconstrued as a blush along his cheekbones. _Yes, he's weakening. _Light kept her urge to smirk in victory in check, and kept the wide-eyed desperate innocence look that could burn any red-blooded man, much less someone who never dated. She folded her arms in front of her chest too, the top two buttons of her shirt open, thereby drawing her breasts together for a super-cleavage effect—she probably owed Sayu a lot for allowing her to borrow all those girl magazines. The silence in the room was deafening as every ear in the vicinity strained back in their direction.

"It's not right" he muttered, hands in his pockets and looking more hunched than usual.

"What?"

"The guy's supposed to be the one asking out for the first date, Light-chan" L said, his tone flat.

"I OBJECT!" Yagami-san yelled and he rushed in before the scene could take a more romantic quality, "I'm not giving you the permission to date my daughter"

Light rubbed her temples in frustration, "_Dad..._"

"I haven't said anything" L said, somewhere between confused and amused.

"How dare you bypass my permission when you have every intent on dating my daughter?"

"We're already over fourth base, _Dad_" Light cut in. No one paid her any attention.

"There is always a proper way of doing things no matter what has happened"

"May I go out with Light-chan?" L was politely oblivious. He received a searing glare for his efforts.

"NO"

"_DAD!_"

Yagami-san turned to Light. "You can go shopping with Misa-chan"

"That's not surveillance at all" L said, "It won't do. Both Light-chan and Misa-chan are suspects and leaving them a chance to conspire together isn't a good idea"

"But she's not going out with you!" Yagami-san insisted.

"Why not? Light-chan, do you mind going out this afternoon with me?" L asked, turning to her.

"No, I don't mind—"

"Because I say you can't" Yagami-san said, before deciding to add, "And if you do go despite of it, you're grounded, Light-chan"

"_Dad, I'm not a teenager anymore, you can't ground me_" She said, trying her best to make her voice the perfect avatar of reasonability. Besides, does grounding even make sense now that they're all stuck there anyway?

"You're still my daughter" The senior, and the remaining male Yagami seems to have only noticed their current condition. "I know I can still restrict your computer access here"

Light rolled her eyes, trying not to betray the tension in her gritted teeth. First L was in the way and now her own _father_? Who's next, mother? Sayu? She consoled herself with the thoughts that the path to Godhood was never easy, picked the cordless phone in the room and started walking out.

"I'm calling mother on this. You can settle it with her"

"_Yagami Light, you get back here right now!_"

* * *

'-

A little farther from the commotion, Matsuda was offering popcorn to Mogi. "You know, I've seen some of the TV drama scripts Misa-chan gets offered with, and I can say that this is still better than the majority of it. I think we should turn it into a drama and get Misa-misa to star in it"

He couldn't help thinking about it. He was Misa-misa's manager after all, regardless of whether it's just a second job for him or not.

"There are surveillance records of this room, you know" Mogi said.

"Really? Do you think L would mind if I make copies of it?"

"This room has a high ceiling, so the cameras are far enough that the faces are sort of indistinct. Besides I doubt last hour's records has anything top secret in it, so as long as you check for those things, it wouldn't be a problem"

"Great!"

"But they don't have sound"

Matsuda whined. There goes his chance. Mogi continued unabated. "You should take the sound recording from the microphone we placed under the table"

Just before he let the feeling of a good contract settled wash over him, Matsuda turned to Mogi. "Thank you, Mogi-san. It's not that I'm ungrateful, but I can't help wondering why you're helping me so far"

He shrugged and started locating where the records were. "It's not a problem, I'm not busy. No one's been giving me anything to work on in the last three days"

"I can't thank you enough..."

"Just keep me informed on how it goes" Mogi said, to which Matsuda turned a flabbergasted look at, "What? I get bored too"

* * *

'-

L watched Light-chan walk out of the room with phone in hand—it was hard not to do so because she moved with the grace of a model on the catwalk, only without the skanky overtones, and when she walked it was like legs all the way up. When Light was out, he moved his attention back at Yagami-san. He didn't quite believe what he had just heard. Did the man just agreed to restrict his daughter's freedom of movement? Without L even having to ask or construct an elaborate argument for it? It was unbelievable. He almost couldn't believe his luck. Maybe there are still some good to come out of Light-chan's sudden sex change.

"Yagami-san, thank you"

"_I didn't say yes to you, yet, Young Man_"

"Of course" he said, ignoring that tiny fragment of his head that was actually disappointed. One step backwards for him and one giant leap for mankind. It was worth it. He was about to walk away, and maybe order some cakes to celebrate the progress when his mouth ran away from him and asked a question he wasn't even aware he had been thinking about.

"What does it take for you to say yes?"

Yagami-san chuckled. It sounded ominous, and L was beginning to understand where Light's penchant for secretly cackling when she thought no one was watching came from.

"You have no idea"

* * *

'-

Light was stalking the corridors with her arms crossed, her brain working faster fuelled by indignation. She held the phone to one ear, waiting for it to be picked up on the other side.

"Mom, this is Light"

She tipped her head to one side.

"Yes, yes, everything's going alright—no, Dad's alright. What? No, I don't think I know why he's losing sleep. Why?"

"Have I been dating? What does that have to do—"

She sighed. "Yes, alright, the answer is yes. Actually I was calling you because of that. Dad's overreacting again"

"No, it's not reasonable, and no, I'm much older than Sayu, I know what I'm doing" Light took a deep breath and counted to ten and concentrating on not-listening to her mother's fretting. It would pass. She's experienced at this. "Can you please talk to him? _Please_? Look, it's not as if Ryuuzaki's secretly a serial killer or something, _he's a detective, he's leading the team trying to catch Kira_. Just how safer does Dad need the person I'm dating to be? Does he want me to date _Kira_ instead, then?"

Light paused, the voice coming from the other end was calmer now.

"You would? Thanks! Yes we're eating well—come on, Mom, you're the one who still sends food here from time to time, of course we ate well. No, it's alright, you don't have to do it everyday; we could order from any restaurant downtown, anyway"

"What does he like? Anything sweet, I guess like cakes or sweets. No, I've never seen him eat rice, I don't know how he manages. Yes, he _is_ strange"

Her mother replied with one sentence.

"No, I don't think anyone's busy tonight..." Light said without thinking, before comprehension of what her mother just said hit.

"DINNER? Wait, what for? No, _why tonight_?"

"_Because that way, I can meet your boyfriend and persuade your father at the same time_"

"He's _not_ my boyfriend"

Her mother only laughed and started a monologue on differing menus, various recipes and what ingredients are best in this season, as unstoppable as a speeding bus.

"_You're lucky I don't expect you to come home and help me cook, you know_"

Light sighed and conceded defeat. _Chose your battles to win the war..._

"As long as I don't have to break the news to Dad, I don't mind"


	3. Home is Where the Mess is

**Author's Note: **When I started writing this, I have every intention on keeping it a plotless story that I could write with even half a brain functioning. Somehow some hints of plot still managed to sneak in despite my best efforts. Sorry for that. It seems like it's not going to end up as a series of one shots after all. Advice, comments, suggestions, and plot conspiracy theories are always welcome...

'-

* * *

**Home is where the mess is**

No one was sure what was going to happen when Misa-chan would have to go back to the building one day and find out that her idol, her kind, generous and wonderfully perfect boyfriend had turned into a girl. An angelic, idealistic and wonderfully perfect girl, nonetheless, but her mind wasn't prepared to cope with this new development yet. No one in the task force seemed to have even considered how the balance between the strange triad would have been shifted after The Change.

On the other hand, there is still the off-chance that everyone wanted to put off the time when Misa would be screeching like a banshee on the top of her lungs to the detriment of everyone else's eardrums and a couple of glass objects in the vicinity.

Considering this is what is happening now, it is probably the most accurate hypothesis.

Misa stopped screaming, took a deep breath, and put all of her energy and emotion into one last outburst.

"RYUUZAKI, I HATE YOU!"

L seemed to be strangely prepared, and he pulled out a pair of earplugs out of his ears. If Light was there right now, she would say he looked oddly pleased too, but otherwise, no one else managed to notice the subtle difference in the way he blinked.

"Really, Misa-chan, whatever did I do today?"

"I don't know what you did, but I'm sure that this...all this is your fault! It MUST be your fault!"

"That is not even a logical argument, Misa-chan"

"Grrrhh..." she was stamping her feet in a most adorable way, cheeks burnt from anger and blond hair jumping up and down and all over the place. Matsuda had his own camera rolling from somewhere, since as much of a fool he was, he wasn't that stupid not to know that the encounter was already weeks in coming. L was aware of that, but not enough to care.

Misa's voice was wavering. "I don't believe it, I can't believe it..."

The evidence was there, on the table. L had thought over this carefully—with the same care and thoroughness he had put into other conundrums. There was a series of photographs of the task force in the preceding days, all of it with Light in them. Light talking to Mogi-san; Light, appraising what Aizawa brought one day; Light-chan getting into another heated argument with L. He'd have to show her the videos if she still didn't believe it, but he hoped it wouldn't have to come to that. He wasn't sure if the recordings had been thoroughly cleaned of any careless physical intimacy he seemed to be settling into around Light-chan—he tried not to think about that too much, he was losing some control over his reflexes and it was frightening to say the least. There's time to face that demon later.

For now, L had considered that to bring all the evidence on was probably the best way to break the news for her—if there was no way for her to deny the new, strange reality they were thrust into, the sooner she could make her peace with it and adapt. To move on.

See? It's not as if he was wrong. She'd stopped the histrionics already at this point.

Of course, he didn't count on Misa seeing a picture of him sitting side-by-side with Light on the couch, just doing their own work like they always did, and bursting into tears. L was dumbfounded enough to stare at the offending photograph again. He was eating a giant lollipop there, while Light-chan was reading some compilation of police report most diligently, a cup of tea in hand, her hair already long enough to cover the nape of her neck. What is the problem, really? They weren't even holding hands! Not that he'd ever get caught holding hands—

The problem remained; Misa was crying her heart out, and it wasn't the picturesque crying in movies in which only one or two crystalline tears fall down on perfectly porcelain cheeks. No, this was a complete breakdown. Her apparent carelessness on how she probably looked right now made it worse. There was enough waterworks for her tears to drop a little on the floor, her eyes were beginning to be red and she was sniffling and definitely embarassing the hell out of him as he moved from one feet to the other.

The only reason he was still standing in front of her and not vacating the premises instantly was because he had realized everyone else was gone from the room. He might be detached, but not even L was that heartless to leave a crying and despairing girl alone.

"Misa-chan," he tried to keep his voice comforting. He didn't know whether he managed it or not. Was it supposed to just be half the usual volume, or closer to a whisper? How does one know how to change the inflection to project concern? This position of not knowing the exact solution needed was quite disturbing to him, and he failed to voice anything else for the next minute. She was starting to calm down a bit, so maybe he did something right after all.

"Misa-chan, what are you afraid of?"

He couldn't say 'everything would be alright' because no one could know that for sure and he hated lies. Omitting facts he was quite ready to do, wilful misdirection and leaving people to misunderstand him was something he had no problem with. Lying, however, and on so personal a level...

"Light isn't going to like me anymore" she sobbed,

He cleared his throat uncomfortably. He didn't have any soothing answer to that. He wasn't even sure if Light ever _liked_ Misa in the first place beyond a pawn. On the other hand, if Kira hadn't stopped any of her plans (and he was sure of this), she would still want Misa's assistance. There was no doubt on that, though perhaps the degree of it might have changed.

"Light-chan won't push you away. You'll still be as close as you were before"

"You don't know for sure!"

"No, I do" There was a quiet conviction in his tone. "I have no doubts on that point. The odds of Light-chan leaving you is smaller than 1%"

"You're just saying that to make me feel better" Her eyes were beginning to water again, and this time he was better prepared to pick the box of tissue on the table and offered it to her. She pulled a handful out and blew her nose.

"I'm not going to lie to you on this, Misa-chan. What would I get?"

She paused and consider it. He knew she wasn't as airheaded as she liked to act. There was a brain under the pretty shell somewhere, just not used often and well-hidden.

"I...I think I understand what you're saying" she whispered, "It doesn't make it any easier, though..."

She cried again, with the intensity of someone trying to forget something so much that it hurts. He would have walked away if she wasn't gripping the edge of his shirt already with both hands as she stood there and cried. He cleared his throat, hoping that she would notice and let him go. No difference.

He took a deep breath, and hoped that what he was about to do was the correct procedure for these kinds of situations.

L pulled Misa into a gentle hug. Her sobs were more unrestrained, but even as her voice rose, he could feel tension leaving her small body. He hoped it was cathartic and they could all move on from this awkward position (because as he had proved with his encounters with Light-chan in the last weeks, he's still very male in many aspects. And he had a pile of pinups with Misa-misa on them, in a secret stash in one of his offices somewhere).

What he didn't expect was for Light to walk into the room at right that point.

"So, did I miss something?" She said casually.

* * *

'-

"Light-kun!" Misa gasped.

L held back a wince, leaving only the smallest of a twitch, but it was nothing Light didn't see. In the space of a moment, Light was considering the possibilities open to her. She could storm off in what could pass as a display of jealousy, but however uncomfortable that was going to make L, Misa would probably be the only person who'd run off after her. It wouldn't achieve much. She could act like nothing's wrong, but that was wasting this unexpected opportunity. Her mind was pretty much made up the next moment.

She smiled with all the appeal of the consummate actress that she was, arms open and waiting. Misa predictably bounded off towards her with a squeal, and Light enveloped the smaller girl in a tight hug.

"Did you miss me?" Light asked, and all the joy shining through Misa's eyes made the answer quite an obvious one. "I'll admit that this place gets a little too quiet without you, Misa-chan"

Well, that was a lie. With the way her relationship with L had stepped up, their arguments seemed to have gone up a couple of notches in intensity too. L was standing awkwardly a little further away from them and Light smothered a cruel smirk from appearing on her face. She turned to whisper in Misa's ear instead.

"I'm afraid some things have changed since you're last around. But I assure you that I'm still the same in all the ways that matter" her voice carried smoky overtones deeper than sin.

She felt Misa shiver just before Light tipped her chin upwards and kissed her full on the mouth.

* * *

'-

It would be a blatant and shameless lie on L's part to say that he wasn't turned on.

He wasn't sure what happened, or how it happened. All he knew was Misa running straight at Light-chan at one point, and suddenly they were making out like there was no tomorrow. He couldn't stop staring at the way her long and slender fingers were entangled in Misa's blond hair, or the way Misa's smaller form settled itself in complete and pliant surrender against Light-chan. He was sure he had never seen Light touch Misa-chan that thoroughly and with such mezmerizing dedication before when she was still a guy. He swallowed the suddenly-growing lump in his throat.

The two girls broke up and Light-chan smoothed Misa-chan's hair. Misa still had a dazed look on her, not fully comprehending why her lover had suddenly decided not to pretend to be such a gentleman, err, lady, anymore but too high on endorphin to care.

"I won't leave you, Misa-chan, you know that, don't you? You'll always be by my side"

Misa nodded with a dreamy expression. She missed the predatory grin that flashed on Light's face for a split-second. It was something L vaguely saw but didn't quite note as Light-chan was already approaching him and pulled him into a kiss. With tongues. She didn't hesitate to use teeth either and L was already yanking the collar of her shirt the moment she bit his lip. As was always the case with the two of them, it didn't stop with just a kiss as new targets were found and new methods of assault were applied.

Though Light-chan disappointingly drew back when his hands were getting friendly with her breast.

"We'll be having dinner at my family's tonight" she said with a most winning smile, slightly breathless or not, and L thought it was unfair that she got the hang of feminine charm so quickly.

"You're invited, and my mother would very much like to meet you. I'd be happy if you came, Ryuuzaki"

It was _so_ unfair because he couldn't say no.

"I would"

Light nodded as if she had expected such an answer in the first place and started to walk to her quarters. Misa-chan was staring back and forth between Ryuuzaki and Light, but in too much shock to comprehend anything. L was too occupied to care. Light-chan stopped at the door just when L was drinking his tea and turned her head a little, a knowing smile on her face.

"She said she would like to meet my boyfriend"

He choked. There was no mistaking the sounds of laughter that followed Light-chan out of the room.

* * *

'-

Misa was right on Light's heels the moment she regained her senses. The blonde realized that she might be a bit absent-minded sometimes, but even she knew that she wasn't hallucinating when she saw Light pulling L into an fierce kiss. She didn't know what she was feeling. It was just red and painful and hot and irresistable and too complicated that she didn't even know what it was supposed to be. Whatever it was, she knew Light-kun would always be able to help her sort it out.

She could see the walking form of her boyfriend-turned-girlfriend ahead; still so tall, stately and graceful. Misa didn't know what she thought when she first heard the news of Light's change—she was never attracted to girls before—but now she knew that it didn't make a difference to her love one bit. Light-kun will always be so beautiful that Misa felt her heart could break just looking at him. Or her.

"Light-kun! Light-kun! Please wait up for me. Please..."

"What's wrong, Misa-chan?"

"It's just... you've changed, for one. And there's Ryuuzaki..." she stammered. There really was no way to bring the topic up without her thinking about Light-kun kissing her.

Light-kun took her smaller hand in her much warmer ones instead, and smiled. "You'll always be my girlfriend, Misa-chan. I want you to never forget that"

She blushed to the roots of her hair, and they held hands all the way.

* * *

'-

Light was considering something as Misa was about to walk into her room.

"Would you like to have dinner at my house tonight, Misa-chan?"

* * *

'-

**Author's End Note: **Hmm, so what could Light be planning? As you can probably see, my definition of how much Yagami Light (Kami-in-training) is in character is in the degrees of which he/she is a machiavellian jerk. Expect more shenanigans in the future.


	4. Starters to a Main Course

**Author's Note: **As V would say, 'this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose'—this chapter got wordier than the rest before I realized I had to end it. I don't know why, really, the plot bunnies just started to multiply in front of me and I couldn't stop typing the scenes out. Does the length of it bother anyone? If anyone gives an affirmative, I'll try to cull the bunnies' birth-rate next time around. Aaanyways, back to our scheduled programming, people. As always, conspiracy theories welcome (and even any comment to inform me you're reading. Really. Reviews are the only payment of the fanfiction writer).

'-

* * *

**Starters to a Main Course**

Watari was on his case the moment he walked into his room.

"You look happy, Ryuuzaki-san. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"I do?"

He had walked in two seconds after he opened the door and let it swung open on its own slowly—no faster or slower than he usually did. He wasn't grinning like an ass, of jumping in joy or whatever activity that people associate with extreme happiness. He moved leisurely with the same methodical care that most people mistook for laziness and he was sure—

"Yes, you look happy. Now, was there something you need to prepare for?" Watari cut through his thoughts.

What did he need to prepare for, anyway? Was there something he needed to prepare for?

"Nothing?"

Watari did a most careful sigh. "You're home already when you're usually still with Light-chan at this hour"

Ah, so that was how he knew. L shrugged and dropped himself bodily on a high-backed chair, pulling the chocolate truffles on the small table next to it to his lap.

"This is Misa's first time returning after Light's change" he said.

"So she is spending time with Misa-chan?"

"Until dinner, at least. Her family is intent on having a family dinner," he said, and then added as an afterthought. "And I think I was invited indirectly"

Watari moved with the speed one would not even expect from a man half his age, stopping right in front of L, a hand grasping his collar already.

"Then we'd best be prepared, then"

"I'm not going to a salon" L was stubbornly clinging to his chocolates.

"No salon would want to accept you anymore after that incident with the cream bath machine in one of those hip and new places when we first arrived in Japan" Watari said with a sigh. "I'd prepare you even if I have to dunk you myself in a bathtub to do so"

"I refuse to be manhandled" L said, just as calm. He twisted himself out of Watari's grasp and easily avoided the second, third and fourth effort the older man made to catch him. He even jumped out of the couch with a level of ease and flexibility that would make an orang-utan proud, rolling on the floor once. He was always securing his stash of sweet with his body and was now perching at the top of a couch on the other end of the room. In fact, it was not unlike a giant simian warily gazing down from a skyscraper, if one knew how to read his carefully-blank face.

"Ryuuzaki-san. As much as I respect you, there are certain suggested guidelines of propriety that I will not bend even for you. If you are determined to show your worst side to Yagami-san's family tonight, then I suggest you to use the bicycle altogether and go there on your own time, on your own terms; I won't drive you and I will not interfere at all then. If you decide that a certain amount of sacrifice is worth it for Light-chan, I will be in my room waiting for to assist you"

"But she's _Kira_, Watari" he said, confused.

He was really too lazy to go out alone, but he knew he would have to come or Light-chan would find an excuse to throw a tantrum tomorrow; and the whole investigation team would verily be sympathetic with her flight and lay all the blame on him. He could see it already. There's a 73% probability that _that_ was going to happen.

The other 27% was the chance of him dying of a heart attack as Light-chan decided finally that she has had enough of him... hmm. Should he tempt fate so that the team has sure-fire evidence that she is Kira? He bit his thumb, the irony of the situation only becoming apparent now.

_Why is the fate of the world suddenly hanging on the results of one dinner party?_

Watari shook his head. "She's still a lady that should be accorded some respect. Knowing Light-chan, she will certainly dress nicely and I will not have you throwing that in her face"

"He never cared how I dress before"

"It doesn't mean _she_ wouldn't start caring _now_"

He stared at Watari for some time, unsure at how to treat this side of his guardian he had never seen before. Why is he suddenly refusing the arguments of logic? If Light ever judged him on how he looked, there was a great deal of activities they wouldn't be doing at all—he was sure he wasn't stupid in that sense. Hell, he wouldn't even care if Light-chan was to show up wearing her usual ensemble of shirt and slacks, or even a _sack_.

"Ryuuzaki-san" Watari said again, "As much as you...like Light-chan, I'm sure Misa-chan believes that she likes her far more than you. If she is home already, then you'll know that she wouldn't want to be left out at all and would go too. If Misa-chan's going, then I can be sure she would certainly _not_ be coming with a bathrobe or pyjamas and you will look the worse in comparison"

He disagreed with Watari's argument. He'd always look worse compared to Misa-chan, considering that he didn't have her kind of figure at all, or the pouty lips—he certainly can't pull of all those dresses the way Misa-chan could. L pulled on the fabric of his white sweatshirt and observed it; 70% cotton, 20% polyester and 10% elastene, he analysed.

"This isn't pyjamas, Watari" his voice was reproachful.

"You sleep in them. They're pyjamas, _Ryuuzaki-san_"

L shrugged and threw another truffle into his mouth. Watari was holding back a very transparent urge to cover his face with his hands in despair and groan. His training as a gentleman's gentleman managed to win out and left a very strained smile on his face instead.

"At this rate Ryuuzaki-san, I'm sure Yagami-san is going to kill you before Kira does"

* * *

'-

When Matsuda pressed the button to stop recording, he was as red as a tomato and as mute as one. Mogi had pushed his current workload aside and was emptying the contents of a tub of popcorn into his stomach.

"You know, this is more interesting than daytime soap opera" Mogi said.

"Yagami-san's going to _kill_ me..." Matsuda whined, once he had taken control of his senses and realized what they both had just witnessed.

"No he's not. Not unless you mail it to him directly, and why would you want to do that?"

"Because he'll know?"

"He's a good policeman, not an omniscient God" his co-worker clarified. The silence hung between them for a while, and they had that feeling where they knew they were at an intersection of history, where taking a different path would mean very different results.

"So..." Matsuda started.

"So..."

"Do you think it has potential?"

"As long as you write the script down and not send the video to any TV stations, you'd be fine. In my opinion, you could even get Hideki Ryuga to play in it"

Matsuda laughed. "As who, L? Wow, talk about coming full circle"

* * *

'-

Amane Misa believed with all her heart that the intersection of history that she was standing at lies in her choice between the black with white accents dress, or the black and pink with red trimmings. It was obvious to anyone who might be an observer in her own room. She hadn't even managed to take a bath in her nervousness. Both dresses were laid on her bed, both of them gothic-lolita in a way that was definitely more lolita than gothic. Humbert Humbert would be very pleased with either of her choice.

"How do I look pretty without being desperate? Is the pink going to make it obvious?" she mused aloud. "Of course not. It would be if I picked _red_, and I didn't. Still, is the pink a _good_ idea? Oh dammit, I really need someone else right now—"

"I think the purple one that you wore on the DoCoMo cellphone advertisement would fit you better"

Misa screamed on top of her lungs again at the intruding voice. The next thing she did was bring her bag down on L's head like a jackhammer.

"Why are you in my room? Do you want Misa-misa to die of a heart attack?"

L didn't move from his spot by the wall, he merely shoved the bag aside and he act like the lump that seemed to be forming on his head even hurt the slightest.

"You seem to need some help" he said.

"I don't _need_ any help, not from you at any rate!" She was going to snap at him more when she realized that he didn't wear his usual ensemble of white and jeans. He was wearing a proper shirt, for one, even if it was untucked. Despite his change from jeans, the hem of his trousers seems to be long enough for him to step on and not quite normal either. And there was that _coat_ he was wearing, of what kind of cut she couldn't even begin to identify, because it followed his form nicely even if he was moving in that slouching way of his. No unnecessary creases or folds.

_They must have bribed the tailor a fortune to even made such an odd coat_, she thought, imagining proper old men in Savile Row establishments despairing of ever getting a decent measurement from their client. Watari would be at the back with his infinite patience, discreetly adding more zeroes to the cheque he was prepared to hand over and slipping it to the cashier to be accepted.

Misa would've laughed at the thought if she hadn't just noticed at that moment that L was opening and browsing through her wardrobe with casual abandon, tossing some things out carelessly, even. Like the green bra that was now on the floor along with a half-cup crème coloured companion.

"_Ryuzakiiiiiiiiiiii!_"

* * *

'-

It was thanks to his reflexes that her right hook only met his shoulder, instead of his left jaw as she had intended, but Amane Misa could pack a surprising amount of punch for someone who looked so small. Nothing L couldn't handle, of course, but it was a surprise nonetheless.

"Here"

He shoved the purple dress under her nose. Of course, it wasn't as if he needed to use the dress as some sort of shield between him and the too-excitable blonde in front of him. No, really, not at all. They just need to get this done quickly so neither of them would be late. Misa stared at the dress and her eyes widened. L made sure that his feet were nimble enough to jump out of the way in case she thought that a repeat of their scuffle was necessary.

"How did you..." Misa looked up at him, and it wasn't anger that was there. "You actually remembered one of the dresses Misa wore, Ryuuzaki?"

He couldn't place the tone of her voice at all. Was she surprised? He was the world's number one detective; of course he had a good memory. Was that...L shook his head to himself. He really couldn't read what she was thinking, and spurious speculation never did anyone any good.

"It's one of the nicest dresses you ever wore" he said flatly.

She cocked her head to the side, hands folded in front of her chest. "What if you're mistaken? This might be the one for that new year shot for _Baby's_ catalogue. It was purple too, you know. It was done at around the same time as well"

Was she testing him?

"Of course not. That was two months before the DoCoMo shot and it was not even of a similar colour Misa-chan" he said with a definitive shake of his head, firm in his authority, "Besides, that was closer to lavender with silver trim. Black is rarely _Baby's_ signature colour for their collection"

Of course, he would really be damned if she asked him why a world-renowned detective feel the need to familiarize himself with all the catalogues from major gothic-lolita fashion establishments. Research, of course, but some people cannot appreciate the sacrifices one must make to ensure the establishment of justice.

"This might as well be the one I did for the perfume—" Misa started.

"That one had more black and the theme is more velvet than satin" he replied just as quickly. "You're not about to make such a basic mistake over such a sartorial topic, are you, Misa-chan? That would be uncommonly careless of you and a big disappointment for all those brands that chose you because they believe you're going to be a fashion icon in the future"

Misa's eyes widened again, and there was that surprise that was not purely surprise that he couldn't name. Was it... _awe?_

* * *

'-

What does one do when one's boyfriend-turn-girlfriend barely gives one enough attention to live on, but her idle maybe-boyfriend, whom she's definitely cheating on you with, actually cares a lot about you more than he looks? What if he actually notices you more than she does?

If she was any more surprised, Amane Misa would probably break her brain.

Ironically, somewhere deep inside her brain she had probably realized that Light wasn't going to see her as more than a very useful pawn, and _that_ was the only reason her brain isn't broken yet.

Right now she refused to treat that pang of pain and warning from inside her as just another heartache. She was used to it already; staying with Light had taught her that. Ryuuzaki looked like he dearly wanted to bolt, if only he wasn't too curious for his own good as to what she was going to do next.

"It might be a coincidence..." she said, keeping her voice light and flippant as if she could care less whether he got it right or not. Ryuuzaki's brows twitched in what she labelled as his 'feeling quite inconvenienced' expression.

"Wait" He pushed the dress towards her and she was too surprised to do anything but accept it.

Ryuuzaki turned back to the wardrobe and started rummaging again. The first thing he pulled out and unrolled was a pair of stockings, black and edged with lace and definitely matching the purple dress. The next was a violet bustier. The last was...

Panties. He dropped his new acquisitions on top of the dress in her arms. Misa blushed crimson. Ryuuzaki did not seem to take note of that as he turned nonchalantly to her.

"Do you know that your underwear was visible when the wind from the fan came from the right of the screen? Only for about 1.5 seconds, of course, but it was enough to—"

Misa's voice must have reached record decibels.

"_Ryuuzaki you_ _Pervert!_"

* * *

'-

She pushed him out of her room in record time. Just before she slammed the door on him, he reminded her that her bathtub would probably be full now and she would be well-advised to follow his suggestion and close the tap. The door paused with an inch of open space between them. Misa's voice was confused.

"Bathtub?"

"You left the tap on to fill it and I'm sure it's overflowing for some time now. The water meter for your room was how I know you're taking too long"

Misa only nodded dumbly as she closed the door and locked it, still half in thought. She did go to the bathroom and closed the tap to her overflowing tub. She took a bath, of course, complete with essential oils and scrubs and whatnot. When she walked out in towel, however, she picked up the clothes Ryuuzaki had shoved to her without a second thought.

* * *

'-

The gods must hate her, Misa decided, facing a very reasonable Ryuuzaki who had been ignoring all her shouts and tantrums as if they were an acceptable part of conversation. She was quite near to tears herself if a steely part of her didn't start reprimanding the dramatist side and said that crying was going to ruin her makeup and she didn't have that much time to fix it again—and that she wouldn't want Light-kun to ever see her in a mess, right?

"Of course you're going with us, Misa-chan. I don't think you'd want to walk all the way to Light-chan's house on foot, do you? Not that we can't get the appropriate security to guard you even then"

"It's just..."

He was staring at her with that patient blank look that was getting to be as annoying as it was familiar. Her anger deflated and Misa simply exhaled a long breath. It was apparent that this wasn't a battle she was going to win. Watari stood accompanied with his own silence as usual, at the door at end of the lobby and Misa could guess that the car was probably just outside. She stalked across the room with determination, pretending not to see L who moved forward in front of her with the speed and silence of a large cat. She clenched her jaw all the way to the car and ignored the door that L held open for her. The petite blonde purposefully went around to the other side to get in from _there_.

There is just something very wrong in going to a dinner at your lover's house with her _other_ lover.

Misa's sensibilities could not help but feel very prickled at the prospect.

"Just ignore me, Ryuuzaki" she said, in that dramatic sort of half-whisper that nonetheless can carry any gossip far to the rafters, "I'm sure I'm just the excess baggage here"

Then she turned to the window and stared steadfastly out as the sleek black car started moving. If Ryuuzaki saw her glassy eyes, even someone as dense as him would realize that it was no longer an act. Ten seconds later she heard him reply.

"You're not excess baggage, Misa" It was not emphatic in any way, but there was something firm in the way he stated it like it was as solid as any fact.

She snorted, completely not cute at all, and she couldn't care less. Misa bit her lower lip and closed her eyes. She tried not to think about anything at all. _I'm not going to cry, I'm not going to cry, I know that Light-kun's mother actually told Light-kun that she wanted to see _him_, but I really am not going to cry..._ She didn't even say to herself how it was sort of pathetic that the only thing that made her feel better was Ryuuzaki's words. She didn't dare. There were a hundred things she'd rather not think about right now.

"If you don't want to go, we can go back" Ryuuzaki said casually.

"I want to go!" She snapped, glaring at him.

"You seem to be in a foul mood, though"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "That's because I'm going with _you_"

Ryuuzaki stared at her for some time, with black unblinking eyes that was starting to creep her out slowly. Before she could start shouting at him, he turned away at the driver's compartment.

"Watari, drop me off here"

Misa could feel the car slow down and move aside, "What are you doing?"

"Walking" he said with the same careless indifference that she now knew to be just his surface. She still couldn't say that she knew what lay below it though. "So you can go ahead and arrive first"

It took a moment for her to process that information and another for the override signal that put all of Light-kun's needs first to slam into action.

"Oh no _you don't_" she hissed, gripping his wrist with a strength she didn't know she had. The blonde model didn't care how she looked right now and if she was making him question her sanity. "Light-kun will definitely _kill you_ if you screw this up. How could you even think of disappointing her in front of her _parents_? What kind of _guy_ are you?"

* * *

'-

That was...surprising, L thought as he watched Misa-chan build up a rant. He ignored the iron grip she kept at his arm, completely taken by the transformation instead. The gloominess that had been hanging over her head had even disappeared to be completely replaced by righteous anger. She said to Watari that they don't need to stop here, and if there was someplace they actually need to drop by it would be a florist because _genius _here (Misa used the word like an insult and he felt the vaguest obligation to be offended by it), forgot to even get a bouquet of flowers.

"And chocolate! How on earth did he forget the _chocolate_? Misa-misa knows that he eats them everyday! Why can't he at least get a box of chocolate from his stash?"

Watari was the one who replied for him. "Forgive Master Ryuuzaki, Misa-chan, he really doesn't have a lot of experience with these kinds of things"

Was it just his imagination, or did Watari sound amused?

"That doesn't excuse him from not trying at all!" she fumed.

"I'm still here, you know" L cleared his throat to draw attention from their conversation. From the way she glared at him, Misa-chan seemed to take his presence as an affront.

"Then you better pay attention and memorize all the places we're going to drop by because Misa-misa is not going to help you twice! In fact, it Misa-misa ever hears Light-kun complain about tonight, Misa-misa is going to gouge Ryuuzaki's eyes out with a dried-out mascara brush and it will _not_ be pretty, Ryuuzaki"

"Oh"

"_Is that all you can say?_"

L winced, but it was probably more from the volume of her shriek than the weight of the model's slim frame; she was very close to him that she might as well be straddling him.

Apart from still not succeeding in catching a serial killer who believed herself to be God, L thought that his life was perfect as it is.

* * *

'-

**Author's End Note: **Comments?


	5. The Meeting of the Yagami Sisters

Author's Note: Well, it's been sometime since the last time, hasn't it? Sorry for the time lag; it was a combination of real-life business and a lack of inspiration, at least until a week ago and the plot bunnies hit me hard and I started typing everything down in a frenzy. Thanks for everyone who reviewed! Especially the ones with speculation and a theory or two—that helped to get me thinking in terms of the story again. Did I ever put a disclaimer in the story? Dang, I couldn't remember, so:

Disclaimer: I don't own Death Note. Anyone thinking that I do is hallucinating and I would like to know what they're on to be able to come up with such an idea. This story is written without any profit to the author except for the _fun_.

Now, for the _warning_: This chapter started out with the same crazy vibe as the previous ones did, but somehow hints of _plot_ insinuated itself insidiously right at the very end—I wrote down a whole paragraph of it before I realized what happened. It's still pretty tame by my standards, but in case it's shocking or worrying to other people, I'd rather err on the safe side and say that from this point on, it's for 17+.

Truth is, I probably read these kinds of stuffs all the time when I'm 13 without any side-effects, but _well_...one's own measure is not always a good measure for another. Blargh, that's a long author's note. Onwards with the story!

'-

* * *

**The Meeting of the Yagami Sisters**

Light hadn't even arrived home for long before Sayu ran into her bedroom and attacked her with a tackle-hug and the two Yagami siblings fell on Light's bed.

"Niii-san!"

She smiled. "It's _Nee_-san, now. Whatever's the matter?"

Ryuk was laughing out loud, at least until Light gave signs that he should just _go_, for now. It took another pointed look and a glance at the apple Light left at the table when the shinigami started making caricatures of batting eyelashes and looking pretty, and then he finally flew through a wall with a disappointed huff. Life as a shinigami was basically boring without watching humanity, after all.

"Well, home is dull without you and I miss you" Sayu said with a cute pout. It was probably the same kind of expression that sent all those male classmates to call home and their father to start guarding the phone like a terrier whenever he was home.

Light chuckled, "Somehow I feel that's not the only reason you barged in here. Is there another homework you've been having a problem with?"

"There's something about Advanced Calculus III but it's boring, and we could finish it in an hour later on tonight. I think there was some physics stuff I don't quite get either about those oddly-shaped electron orbitals and whatnot, but I think that's even easier" Sayu said with a dismissive wave of her hand as she stood up and helped Light up. She was smarter than everyone else in her class, if not her whole year, but when one had Yagami Light as their older sibling, one begins to think of it as merely a small factoid instead of something very important.

"What I'm more concerned right now, is that you're going to have a date! You have to get dressed! You can't go down and eat just with jeans and shirt!" Light winced. Her pitch wasn't as high as Misa's, but she had a wonderful pair of lungs and the volume was starting to make Light's ears ring a bit. Sayu was almost bouncing in a way that made Light suspect she had downed a litre of coffee.

"Take a deep breath and calm down. It's just a dinner to get Dad to snap out of his weird funk" she said.

Sayu stared at Light strangely. "But Ryuuzaki's going to be there, right?"

"Well, yes?"

If it was possible, Sayu seemed to loom even larger,

"And he's your boyfriend, right?" Light didn't even have a chance to answer it with anything before his sister continued, "Don't you see? I bet that's the reason Dad's been planning to dress up a bit for dinner. I mean, Mom even brought out the good china and the rarely-used _silverware_ when she heard that Ryuuzaki spent his childhood in England, so no chopsticks for tonight. You should see the flower arrangements on the dining table—we opened up the extensions to make it larger to fit more people of course—as well, or how—"

"Okay, I get it. Big day for Dad, yes" Light said, finally managing to cut her sister's rant before she gets overwhelmed from the tide of words. "Well, I'll just pick up a nice suit—"

"NO! No suits. _You _are going to wear a_ Dress_. That's _final_." Sayu stated it so seriously it sounded like a commandment.

"I _do_ realize that you haven't had the chance to shop out and change your wardrobe after the...change, but I just noticed that our sizes don't differ much apart from your height. _So_, I'm going to lend you one of my dresses and we can pick it together. Now. In my room"

With that, she gripped her older brother-turned-sister's wrist and started dragging a confused Light out.

* * *

'-

The moment Light sat on Sayu's bed, she finally knew for sure that the love of pink was not a side-effect of the hormone estrogen or having two X chromosome instead of one. If it was, she wouldn't be having this headache just looking at neon pink shade of her sister's desk. Sayu's room wasn't as frilly as Misa's, but _still..._

"How about this one? You definitely have the legs to pull it off" Sayu pulled out a dress fom her wardrobe.

Light stared at the scandalously short little black dress and her protective instinct surfaced faster. How does one walk around in it and _not_ flash panties? "You wore _that_? When? Where did you get it? Does dad even know you have it?"

Sayu rolled her eyes, dismissing the concern with the practiced ease of a teenager. "You're _such_ a big brother Light-nii. Alright, alright, we'll just put this in the reject pile. It's not as short on me as it would be on you, anyway"

Light gave a disbelieving look to her little sister, but Sayu ignored her already and started shuffling through her clothes again. "Let's see. Aha, a red dress! Hmmm, strange, I don't believe I bought this one. I think it's Negami's. I think I remember this from Negami's cousin's wedding"

"You're lending me your _friend's_ dress?" Light said,

"It's been through the laundry and she'd only worn it once before she forgot it was here. Heck, even _I_ forgot it was still here. Here, try it on"

Sayu passed the hanger to Light, leaving her older sister to stare at it. At least it wasn't short—a glance was enough to show that the fabric went all the way to the ankles. The light and shimmering satin gave the impression that the dress was liquid blood, _an interesting double entendre for a Death God_, Light mused. Sayu turned around with a small pile of dress in her arms already, her hands on her waist once she saw that Light was just sitting there and staring.

"Oh, come on! You won't know how well it fits if you don't wear it"

Light was incredulous. "Here?"

There was a glimpse of a devilish grin on Sayu's face, "Well, we're both _girls_, so what's wrong with that?"

Before her little sister could hatch any other plot, Light manuevered her out of the room swiftly and locked it, dress in hand. She could even hear the disappointed huff that Sayu let out on the other side of the door, and somehow Light thought she had made a very good decision. Sayu's enthusiasm was beginning to be...worrying. Light turned her attention back on the dress.

Now, how on earth was she supposed to wear this?

* * *

'-

"Nee-san? Are you done yet? You couldn't have taken that long to wear the dress, right?"

Light sighed as she reluctantly opened the door.

"Dad's going to bust a blood vessel if he sees this" Light muttered. It's not as if she agreed with the dress herself. It was too...

"Oooh, that's _sexy_!"

...impractical.

Light rolled her eyes, ignoring the way her younger sister was gushing. Instead, she pulled on the long silk gloves that came with the dress all the way to her forearms, leaving only a strip of skin between the dress and the gloves. The dress was slit to the thigh, the lowest point of the décolletage was beyond the lower curves of the breast and she felt like all she needed to do was to trip over something before everything _spilled out_. The top half of her shoulder blades were bare, and Light felt she had just stepped out of some 30s gangster movie. If she ever wanted to reduce L to a pile of drooling mush in a very private setting, yes, the dress would be a very good choice, but in front of her _parents_?

"It feels as if it's one size too small"

Sayu shrugged, "Well, I have to admit it didn't look this good when Negumi was the one wearing it"

"I'm _not_ wearing this out of this bedroom"

Sayu raised a knowing eyebrow, "Would you want it for affairs needing settled _in_ the bedroom, then? I'm sure Negumi wouldn't mind if I bought it from her; she wasn't too attached to it"

Light stared at the ceiling helplessly and wondered who on earth had been poisoning her baby sister.

"If I _ever_ catch Matsuda—" she started. Sayu rolled her eyes.

"_Please_, one look at him and you'd know that he's still a virgin" Sayu shrugged, before noticing the flabbergasted look on Light's face. "What? It's true. Do you know how _easy_ it is to make him blush?"

* * *

'-

"Let me establish a couple of things first" Light said as she fought back an impending headache. As far as she knew, her sister was _the_ darling girl in the family, and knowing how wicked she could actually be was getting Light a little too concerned about the kind of people Sayu had been hanging out with. Maybe she should send Ryuk to follow her out some other time.

Maybe there are a couple of names that should end up on his death note.

"I don't mind dressing up, but the aim is _not_ to get tackled from across the table" Light said firmly. Hey, she still have an image to uphold in front of her parents.

* * *

'-

Sayu pouted. There goes her infinite source of fun, especially considering that her older sister was...well-endowed. She picked a dress with peony and phoenix embroidered on it.

"I have this Chinese dress—"

"Nothing so predominantly blood red anymore, please"

"What about this white one piece—"

"I know it's supposed to be a halter neck, but why is the back open all the way to the top of my butt?" Light asked, "Wait, is that even your dress? Tell me it isn't, because otherwise you are going to go out shopping with mother to get some more decent clothes to offset _those_"

Sayu pouted. Light was being too much of an older brother, _again_. Was her elder sister purposefully making this more difficult for her? She sighed.

"No Light-_nee_, that was part of the costume for Odette from the drama club's last play"

"Why is it in your wardrobe?"

"Hey, _I_ made it and with my own money instead of the costume budget, so it's _mine_" Pride tinged her voice as she said it, before she muttered something else, "Though of course, I'd have to size it down first if I ever want to wear it..."

* * *

'-

"Sayu, if it's too over the top, it would seem like I'm desperate to get into someone's pants" Light said with a sigh as she rejected yet another dress.

"You're not?" Sayu asked, not quite believing it.

"Whether the answer is yes or no, I think subtlety goes a long way than overt methods" Light replied diplomatically. "And that last dress looks like something I'd only ever need to wear if I want to be a hostess in a yakuza establishment"

"This is _burlesque_! It's _historical_" Sayu defended. Light raised an eyebrow.

"You mean there's actually a burlesque club in our high school?"

Sayu shut her mouth as she blushed. She had walked straight into Light's trap. Her older sister gave her most angelic assuring smile. Somehow, it didn't exactly calm Sayu by much. "Don't worry, I'm always ready to listen to any explanation you might have—you do have one, right?"

* * *

'-

"So two of your friends is actually a hostess at night" Light said as she rubbed her temples. She desperately needed an aspirin—it was either that or go find some more criminals to execute. "At this point, I'm sure I can extrapolate further and say that the establishment is an organized form of the usual _enjo kosai_ individual cases that the police force has been having. I have the suspicion that it's probably part of an organized crime network run by one of those crazy young regional heads of one yakuza family or another experimenting with new businesses"

Light clasped her hands together on her knees. "Now, please enlighten me further about your friends and give me a reason as to why I shouldn't just tell this to Dad"

Sayu dropped herself on her bed, beside her older sister.

"It's not really anything much—they just accompany these doddering old men in eating and drinking—"

"In skimpy outfits" Light deadpaned,

"—well, in various costumes, yes. But they really need the money—you know that not everyone is lucky enough to afford university tuition fees, right? Or be smart enough to get a scholarship? Or have parents that are earning well? And you know how demanding our high school is, it'd be pretty hard to get a daytime part-time job that doesn't clash with various school schedules"

Light ran her hand through her sister's hair, pressing back her concern very well that it didn't show on her face at all. Sometimes Sayu was too nice...

"And I'm sure they'd be harrassed at least once a week on the job, but they've just never told you about it" Light said softly, "Because they'd want to protect you from it too"

Sayu sat up suddenly and hugged Light, hiding her face under her nee-san's shirt collar.

"I know. I…at least I suspected it. But what could I do? I know some of them won't quit even if I ask them to"

And Indeed, Light considered it to be a challenge for her intellect. _Give criminals what are due to them_, she thought easily, while patting her sister's back. _And as for her friends...hmm, they'd still need a part time job, and without an adequate one, they would fall through the same cracks of society as the one they've fallen through before_. _Where should we start from?_

"I'll find a way, Sayu. You know I always do" she said soothingly, the unnoticed wide and sharp grin of a _Kami_ of Retribution grazing her features.

_And when I finally serve them all justice, it will be wonderful_.

* * *

'-

**Author's ****End ****Note:** So the tension rises—and we haven't even gotten to the dinner! Is the writer intentionally procrastinating? Will the dinner get somewhere or will the story be distracted by the late entry of a semblance of plot? Stay tuned for the answer in the next installment.

**Author's ****Postscript: **Oh, wait, I forgot. Some people might not know what _enjo kosai_ is and too curious to be satisfied by what meager hints exists in the story. It's basically about a (almost always female) student dating older men (usually salarymen) with the expectations of getting expensive trinkets bought and gifted for them. These items include (and not limited to) LV handbags, perfumes, etc.


	6. Unfolding Plot and 'The' Dinner

**Author's Note:** Yep, it's been some time, and as always, thanks to everyone who had reviewed! At least it stopped me from forgetting about this fic completely. Well, my muse hadn't been cooperating with me, that's what, and my papers aren't going to write themselves. So, without further ado, here comes the next installment:

'-

* * *

**Unfolding Plot and **_**The**_** Dinner**

THE WEEK BEFORE:

"Look, I don't see the reason why we have to manually assess and try to eliminate every sodding prefecture in Japan from suspicion" Light said from beyond the almost-overwhelming pile of maps and company index on the table. Most of them had been scribbled on, marked, highlighted, or basically vandalised in one way or another. The other members of the Kira Investigation had done their part, turned them in, and basically declined to go on more than a 24-hour work binge. Ryuuzaki was nuts, she thought, there was no other reason for this current rash of obsession and dedication. "And then move on to the various companies in Japan, even! What on _earth_ is the point of this?"

"I think we've just gone through a very productive 48 hour work. Narrowing down the area of Kira's operation base is always useful" Ryuuzaki said with a strange calm and satisfaction in his voice. Light wanted to throttle him just for that sin. How could the man not be bleary eyed and exhausted after the relentless poring, writing, detailing, and every other blasted thing they did? Did he not need sleep? Were those dark shadows under his eyes the result of bargaining half his soul away to some dark gods of sleep?

"Do you even _think_ that Kira might be a _company_?" The brunette asked,

"The possibility has crossed my mind" Ryuuzaki said as he poured his own drink and sipped from the saucer. Light narrowed her eyes at the small ceramic bottle he was holding. Sake. The damned detective was drinking sake and he wasn't even _sharing_.

"Hand that over" she ordered.

"What?"

He had the grace to look confused. "Your bottle. Hand it over"

Light stood. Ignoring the papers on the floor and the odd notebook she was stepping on, she loomed over the table and snatched the bottle of sake from L's hands. She drank whatever liquid remained in it and returned the bottle on the table with a satisfying smack that surprised her companion a little.

"Eurgh, a little on the sweet side, I should've guessed" she muttered. Ryuuzaki stared Light wide-eyed, as if only noticing her for the first time. "I'm guessing that you take your martinis very dry"

"You look...tired"

"No, I need another bottle of sake as that one wasn't even _half_ a bottle. Where did you keep the rest? I thought you only drank tea"

"You need sleep" Ryuuzaki started, but Light was well on her way towards the kitchen and going straight at the refrigerator before he could do anything but follow.

"Aha! When did you stock these? I didn't recall them here last week"

'-

* * *

"I had no cause to be drunk last week" Ryuuzaki comiserated as he watched the view in front of him.

Light was leaning back against the fridge, holding a bottle of sake in one hand and considering a saucer in the other. Her eyes rimmed with red, her hair dishevelled, shirt untucked in a complete mess and still utterly gorgeous with that tilt of her head that exposed her neck, peach lips forming a dangerous pout. He was trying hard not to notice the lack of bra—he had been doing well when all he needed to focus on were numbers and profiles and geography, but here, in the kitchen, he didn't have the luxury of distracting himself. If she was in a skirt instead of trousers, he might have gotten a nosebleed when Light was bending down and rummaging through the fridge.

She raised an eyebrow while opening the bottle of sake, not quite believing his words.

"Huh, really? You lead one of the most important investigations of the century _and you only have cause to be drunk from last week_? What are you, slow on the uptake?"

_Well, previously, Kira wasn't in my apartment and draining the blood running through my brain elsewhere_. Ryuuzaki looked away. "Sometimes realizations hit some people a lot later than they do others"

It seems that Light was a _chatty_ sort of drunk, with words still pretty legible. "So you admit that you _are_ slow, but in so many words that you still look wise and deep. Heh, nice move there, Ryuuzaki. Unfortunately, only Misa is going to be impressed by that"

Light idly poured to the saucer she carried, drank, before deciding it wasn't worth it and opened the fridge for another bottle. This she handed to Ryuuzaki.

"There, now we both have a bottle"

"Why would I need a bottle?"

"Because you're drinking with me. I'm not just going to go to sleep after you forced me to slog through that tedious drivel until I feel like my brain is peeling inside out. I'm going to sleep only after I finished getting smashed enough to yell at you for being an idiot and inconsiderate bastard, though _only _after I made sure that you're smashed enough not to remember it the next morning. Then we can both have an awful hangover and at the very least you're suffering as bad as I am" Light said as she pushed Ryuuzaki out of the kitchen. They fall back on the living room sofa and Light turned to Ryuuzaki with a stern look.

"Is the basic idea understandable enough?"

_Well,_ he thought from between another gulp of sake, _that sounded oddly reasonable_... "Yes, completely"

"Good. Now drink up. I'm getting more from the kitchen"

'-

* * *

He had barely drank halfway through his second bottle when Light took it without ceremony and drank it herself a bit sloppily, almost daring him to take it back. That was ten minutes ago. Maybe not 'a bit' sloppily. The spilt liquid had rendered the front part of her shirt transparent.

Now, Light's breath was hot against his neck, his pulse racing and his left hand was yanking her shirt off her shoulders while she was pulling his trousers down. Words died on his tongue when she ran her hands lightly above the waistband of his underwear, cool confident fingers edging down and he bit back a groan. He had stiffened so much it bloody _hurts_.

"You're drunk"

What was supposed to be level-headed words came out pinched in more ways than one. Light raised her eyebrows, and kept that carefree smile of hers that could bring an empire to its knees and predictably pantsless. All she needed to do _then_ was to behead it.

"No, not _that_ drunk" she said, softly, only an inch from his lips as mischievous fire danced in her eyes. "Drunk enough to torture you for this all-nighter, 's payback time, Ryuuzaki"

She shifted to move closer, but only leaned back when he unconsciously shifted forward. Light laughed, nails running lightly over his chest in a sensation that was more prickling than pain; his problems were more sudden dryness in his throat than any other cause for complaint.

"_However_, I am still sober enough to give consent" she said.

The last bastion of his self-control was wiped out the moment her fingers were entangled in his hair and she kissed him with a burning fire only the immortals and self-assured emperors have.

Correction, _empress_.

'-

* * *

L closed the door carefully to his apartment, and stood in the corridor. It was always well-oiled that no human ear would pick up the sound of its movement. It's not that he was going anywhere then. He needed to think through this calmly, with some distance, preferrably with an unbiased mind—

"_Right. Whose turn was it to be on top this time?_" _her hand was tracing invisible letters on his waist, her collarbone a delectable distance away from his mouth._

A lesser man would've groaned and staggerred when the memory hit him without even giving him space to catch his breath. He simply leaned back as if he had planned it and closed his eyes, letting the images, the sounds, the _scents_ run wild in that moment of random recall and only opened his eyes again when they were gone. He had accepted it a few days ago that there was probably no escape from them, from the fleeting touches and scattered memories. Light's scent on his shirt. Denying them wouldn't make it go faster or easier, and he had read enough to know that repression really isn't a good long-term solution.

So he let them be, let the memories lay, the laughter that would never escape his mind, the confident smile that looked very much the same and yet so very very different after the change be etched in his mind. He accepted the fact that he may never see her again when this case was done. He let the fear of loss echo alone inside, let time and the night silence to carefully pull the tide back again into acceptance. He had known of the possibilities of attachment before he began, even if only on an intellectual level. To feel it so acutely now...

For the first time in many, many years, the detective began to think of himself as human again.

He's still his usual objective self—he has never been otherwise and he didn't know how to be anything other. His first mistress was always the Lady Justice. The difference was, he was not as cocksure as he was before that he was immune to distraction. So, yes, he had unfortunately proven that he was just as human as the random Joe on the streets of Tokyo.

As he walked down the corridors, he remembered Watari's words, from who knows how long ago.

"_It takes a human to fix humanity's mistakes_"

The irony of the current situation didn't escape him. He had sent Watari away to go to Romania for some intensive and extensive 'profiling' mission for later purposes, with the secondary intention of getting him out of the way for his other plan. He wasn't sure how much Watari would agree with what he was about to do and he wasn't about to take any risk of disagreement to his plan from that quarter. It wasn't anything ideological, really, more for...sentimental reasons, L supposed. Watari held a certain ideal about 'the world's number one detective', something he didn't even pretend to understand, much less uphold. L was pragmatic, after all.

This was a decision that he made precisely because he finally realized what being _human_ meant. For the first time.

He stopped a few doors down from his apartment to what seemed to be a blank panel of wall that was the same was any other. After a careful scan of what seemed to be the agonizingly boring flecked pattern for more minutes than most people would think is necessary, he started pressing on different points in the wall and the panel slid open.

It was... a disappointingly normal kitchen.

The long table on the right was obvious first, along with the coffee machine and its accompanying enormous sugar pot. There was the expected fridge and stove. The computer on the countertop beside the fridge look benign and outdated (it had the boxy expression that seem to say the last OS installed in it had been Windows 98) with scattered printouts of recipes here and there and he turned it on with ease. A pink apron embroidered with 'kiss the cook' hang to the left of the stove. The first thing he checked on the computer was the infrared camera he had set up in his room. Light was still asleep, or at the very least, immobile and lying down.

Then, he idly prepared to contact a _few_ people, debating whether it was necessary to even do it through the secure satellite and all.

No, not low profile enough. Every geek vaguely mad with power was going to try to do it at one point or another, and not many people actually have the ability to do it that one can actually start eliminating the suspects if that was the channel used. He was going to use a more common protocol. Right after he sent an innocuous short message from a website.

He went to create a chatroom about collecting tax forms from around the world.

He waited. And waited.

'-

* * *

DINNER:

The members of the Yagami family and their guests were seated on the dining table, new linen, best silverware complete with all the bells and whistles all the way to napkin rings. Due to her father's manipulation, Light was seated to her father's right, with Misa next to her. L was seated to her father's left and right across the table from her. If it wasn't so amusing, she would've rolled her eyes. Out of all the things her mother could cook, Light honestly didn't expect to see _fish and chips_ on the table.

"So, how far have you boys progressed in your investigation?"

Light raised her head and noticed that her mother had accidentally lumped her with the guys in her question and cleared her throat.

"And you too, Light, of course" She said with a smile.

"Unfortunately, that's classified information, Yagami-san" L answered, prompting a cough from her father.

"It certainly isn't _classified_ to say that he doesn't have enough blood running to his brains in these last weeks" Yagami Sr. muttered out loud. Sayu managed to swallow her morsel of food before affecting a hacking cough, knowing eyes on her elder sister all the time while Misa blushed. Only L seemed to be more-or-less unaffected.

"_Dad_," Light said,

"You're too hard on him, Soichirou, he's still a young man" her mother said, smiling at a plainly-confused L. Just before Light thought that the meal could resume at a more normal condition, she added,

"Surely you remember that you're once young as well? Why, I remember that time when you've just entered the force, you were always rushing off to one life-threatening crisis after another, and I was always worried that you won't make it home. It's all good and well, though, because once you came back home alive, if not always well, we would always find comfort in each other's arms soon enough. Why, on that one time you came home after your shoulder was set, we didn't even—"

"MOM, TOO MUCH INFORMATION!" Light and Sayu managed to blurt out at the same time, with the same pale and horrified looks on their faces.

Their mother huffed. "Kids, really. Surely you don't think you both came out of thin air?"

"But _no one_ wants to imagine their parents" Sayu said, while Light only shuddered.

Mrs. Yagami's eyebrows turned down slightly, "I was only going to say that it was one of the best kisses in my life in that foyer—" The two siblings whimpered in mutual suffering. They would never look at the foyer again if they could help it. _Never_. She continued on obliviously. "—surely it's an acceptable sign of affection in _your_ generation, even moreso than mine"

The one good news from the statement was that Yagami Soichirou was smiling too much at his wife to give much notice to his surroundings. Light pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to will the image away. It wasn't working. It seems that there are unfortunate limitations to shinigami powers.

"You must feel lucky to be so happily married, Yagami-san" L said.

"Of course, dear, and I wish my children to be as happy as I am" she said with the same warm smile, "Please, you'll confuse me with my husband if you keep calling me Yagami-san. Call me _okaasan_"

Light choked on her chips. Yagami Sr. gave L an intense look of disapproval, no matter what his wife said. Even L knew what _that_ meant and stopped all movements from his body as his fork stopped mid-air, though the only indication on his face was a slight widening in his eyes.

"After all, Misa-chan already does" the Yagami family matron finished.

Yagami Soichirou spluttered. This time around, Sayu didn't bother to hide her soft chuckles as she let her gaze wander to the matching awkwardness in her elder sister's friends.

'-

* * *

BEFORE DINNER:

Light was staring curiously at the bouquet of roses that L was holding. They had gotten over the preliminary 'good evenings', and just about to move on into the dining room when a silence of sorts fell between them as Ryuuzaki and Misa stalled. It could be said that L might have forgotten it altogether if Misa-chan didn't elbow him right then, and as if she was pulling the right lever, L automatically offered the roses to Light without a word, followed by a facepalm and a groan from Misa.

It was admittedly a strange arrangement. There were the large and luxurious red roses with velvet petals, making up most of the bouquet, but interspersed between them were roses so dark they were almost black, and they certainly had a stronger scent than the large red ones.

"We had a disagreement" L said without preamble. "Misa-chan wanted red roses. I thought they were too clichéd and not representative of you at all, so I took the dark ones as I think they are more accurate. She complained they were too morose. I compromised by just taking both—"

"Ryuuzaki you _idiot_" Misa hissed from under her breath and stepped on his right foot. Apart from a slight tic, there was no change in his expression. "You are _not_ romantic"

Light was wearing a conservative black dress that ended mid-thigh paired with a silk blazer, and even if she had only been a woman for a while, her instincts were still honed well enough to know when a guy is trying hard not to look at her legs.

She smiled and took a step towards Misa and took the sight of her in: honey blond hair and demure purple satin dress highlighted her earnestness and expression of innocence, her lips of the freshest pink. Light leaned forward to kiss her, the taste of strawberries mingling with sighs and the softness of her leaning in almost surrender. She drew back just before Misa begin to press herself and took the box of chocolate from Misa's hands, the smaller girl still with a star-struck expression in her eyes.

"Thank you, Misa-chan" she said, before taking the roses from Ryuuzaki and pecking him quickly on the cheek. "Thank you, Ryuuzaki"

He looked...perplexed.

"Why..."

"She gave me chocolate, _you_ didn't" Light said as flippantly as she can manage. She turned back and began walking to the dining room, stopping once in a while to wait for them to follow her.

" But that was mine"

"Well, she gave me more flowers than you, how about that? It's true that the red roses are hers, right?"

She left Ryuuzaki to his musings as Sayu walked out of the dining room and greeted Misa-chan with her characteristic girlish friendliness. Behind Sayu, his mother walked out, followed by her grudging father. She kept her eyes on Ryuuzaki, whose expression was the slightly-glazed look that he had whenever he was thinking. Light hid a smirk behind her polite facade.

Sometimes it was so fun to mess with his head.

'-

* * *

**Author's ****End ****Note:** As always, my good readers, don't mind me and write in a review if there's anything you want to say. Anything. Even 'Interesting chapter!' would be fine by me, or maybe 'What's with all this new plot hooks you keep throwing at us? Moar!'. It's always nice to know someone's reading.


End file.
